Sunday, March 28, 2010

Duke vs Baylor Refereeing Abortion

In another refereeing abortion the refs kept Duke close in a game that would have seen Duke blown out had it not been for one sided calling by the referees in an obvious planned loss for Baylor. Duke mugged Baylor in their usual style of roller derby basketball. A style that allows an untallented team beat down opponents who have their hands tied behind their backs by the refs.
This year has been the saddest example of refereeing since the days when Georgetown was allowed to run a muck. Dangerous fowls that have injured players, chronically, through out the year, lead to questions in my mind about the concerns for the players' safety. Incidences of taking the legs out from under players and elbows splitting heads open are becoming more the norm. Divinging infront of players who are driving to the basket has become a dangerous trend. This type of play will injure someone to the point of ending their carreer. It has lead to more and more one and done players who do not want to get injured. Frankly, the injury problem is lowering the amount of talent in the NCAA basketball family of teams. The talent has dropped like a rock in the past few years due to the fear that better players have of being injured.
The points of emphasis that the NCAA stresses for the referees has lead to sub-par officiating. Travels,3 second violations, and uneven officiating are sytemic problems. All of this has taken away from the college game. Teams load up with one and doners and pound the rest of the teams in their leagues, who are simply no competition for them. The result is a lack of respect for the principles that make college basketball, so popular. It is falling to the point of figure skating with a ball.
College football has become meaningless, because ten teams have a lock on the national title (and I use that term loosely, since it is all opinion and no substance. Now, college basketball is headed in the same direction. Leagues load up with teams that the big programs can obliterate. With the exception of the mid majors league winners are always won of 50 teams nationwide. The season is becoming meaningless.